1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tray for counting pills or other medication, and more particularly to a modified pill counting tray with means for preventing pill clumping, a means for ease of excess pill return, and a digital pill counter to help prevent miss-counts, and to ensure accurate pill counting and dispensing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pill counting trays are standard equipment in pharmacies and pharmacists' offices. Pharmacists received medication in pill form from medical suppliers in large stock bottles containing hundreds or thousands of pills, and dispense medicine to patients in smaller pill bottles containing a smaller amount of pills as prescribed by the patient's doctor. Typically pills are dispensed to patients in a limited supply, often a one month supply, or for medication like antibiotics, in an amount based on the required course of the medication. It is increasingly common for doctors and other prescribers to provide the patient with a three month supply of medication. Common prescription quantities, therefore, are 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 360, 540. The pharmacist uses the pill counting tray to transfer the pills from the stock bottle to the patient's pill bottle. The counting of pills on a pill counting tray by a human pharmacist or technician is the most common method for counting pills worldwide. It is likely that every pharmacy in the world uses standard pill counting trays, and likely puts them to use many times during the day to distribute prescribed medicine.
Pill counting trays have been around for years. One of the earliest patents for a pill counting tray was U.S. Pat. No. 2,530,009 to Fields, and issued on Nov. 14, 1950. Standard pill counting trays are still very similar to the Fields invention, and have three major components. The first is a flat pill counting surface, which is in the middle of the tray. On one side of the counting surface is a dispensing chamber, and on the other side of the surface is a return spout. Pills are poured onto the counting surface from the stock bottle. The pharmacist, or pharmacist's technician, pours out what he or she believes is roughly the correct amount of pills, or typically a few more than the correct amount. Then the pharmacist counts the required number of pills into the dispensing chamber. As used herein, the term “count” is used as a verb and refers to the physical sliding of a defined number of pills with the wand from the counting tray to the dispensing chamber. The pharmacist uses a flat tool that looks like a butter knife or small putty knife with a rounded end, and which is called a wand, a spatula, or a counting stick. The term wand will be used herein. The dispensing chamber is half tube with a cover, and often a funnel at the end. Once the correct number of pills are counted into the dispensing chamber, the cover is closed to prevent the pills from spilling. There will be a number of excess pills still on the counting surface. These pills can be poured back into the stock bottle by means of the return spout.
There are a number of problems associated with the standard pill counting tray. Typically the pharmacist pours the pills out of the stock bottle near the return spout. This is to prevent pills from inadvertently going into the dispensing chamber. Unfortunately this means that pills commonly collect and often bunch up or layer one on top of another. Large tablet pills and nearly all capsules clump together and exhibit layering. This makes accurate counting difficult until you evenly spread the pills out into a single layer, which can delay the start of a technician's count and increase the patient's wait time for the medication. There is a need, therefore, for a means for preventing pill clustering and clumping.
Another common problem that occurs is when pouring excess pills back into the stock bottle, they tend to flow out all at once. During the return pour, the fast-flowing pills quickly overwhelm the tiny return spout. This causes the pills to spill onto the countertop and/or floor, and the medication becomes contaminated. Employees touching the pills add to further medication contamination. All this also slows down the dispensing of medicine to the patient, and increases the likelihood that the medication they receive is unsanitary. There is a need, therefore, for an improved return spout to ensure the proper return of pills to the stock bottle.
Another common problem occurs when pouring pills from the stock bottle onto the standard counting trays. If too many pills are poured, or are poured too quickly, it is common for the pills to quickly fill up the available space on the counting surface and run out the return spout and onto the countertop or on to the floor, causing contamination of the medicine. This situation occurs frequently in every pharmacy, especially with newly hired employees. This type of error is not only unsanitary, but it also slows down dispensing time as employees have to address and rectify the spill. This also adds to the cost to the pharmacy as damaged and contaminated pills are discarded. There is a need, therefore, for an improved return spout that prevents the spilling of excess pills.
Another problem is that when returning pills in current model counting trays to the stock bottle, tilting the tray too rapidly or at too steep of an angle will result in some or all of the pills spilling out of the return spout. Or, if the pills are poured too slowly, they will clump and block the return spout. This is because the standard return spout is not made for high volume pill flow. There is a need, therefore, for an improved return spout.
There are two common problems encountered with counting the pills on the standard pill tray. The first is that it is easy to lose count. Technicians waste time and decrease business productivity when they have to recount pill quantities. This can be caused by self-inflicted distractions or thoughts, answering a phone call, addressing a fellow colleague, taking a prescription from a patient at the front counter, or having to disperse clumping pills. These distractions can cause the technician to loose count, and to have to return pills to the counting surface and resume the count. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that it is increasingly common to prescribe some pills in large quantities, some times over 500 pills to a bottle. This makes counting more difficult. Another problem, though less common, is that manual counting can allow someone in the pharmacy to steal medication. Since the count into the patient's pill bottle is only as good as the person doing the counting, and since pills returned to the stock bottle are not precisely or accurately counted, it means that it is easy for a few pills to essentially slip through the cracks. In some instances (particularly with valuable narcotics) these pills can be stolen by unscrupulous employees. A means for accurately counting pills will minimize the possibility of miscounting.
The current system is inefficient and these flaws should be addressed. There are a couple of alternatives currently presented by the market. Dispensing medication from the factory in pre-packaged bottles is one alternative. In this system the correct number of pills are inserted into the medicine bottle at the pill manufacturing facility. However this method has numerous issues and potential risks. The most common drugs come in large 500 or 1,000 count stock bottles, but sometimes they come in 30 and 90 count pill bottles which are ready to be dispensed to patients. Unfortunately it is not uncommon that stock bottles are sealed and shipped with fewer pills than the advertised bottle quantity, which can leave both the pharmacy and patient short on medicine. Stock bottles also commonly contain either crushed or broken pills, because no employees have verified the contents of the bottle before it is shipped. Also it is common for a desiccant, which is used as a preservative and to absorb moisture, to be present in the stock bottle, and it is not uncommon for a desiccant to be inadvertently placed in the prescription sized bottles. The desiccant is a dangerous choking hazards for children and elderly dementia patients once the bottle has been opened. Numerous studies have been reported of dementia patients taking desiccants thinking that they were pills. This type of ingestion can cause severe poisoning. It's clear that the risks and disadvantages associated with dispensing stock bottles outweigh any potential benefits.
There are a number of methods currently available to machine count pills during the dispensing process. The two most common options are weight and laser based counting machines. The weight based machines count by weight, and do not distinguish between a whole or broken pills. There is a similar problem with the laser counters. This significantly degrades the efficiency of machine counting methods. The other problem associated with machine counters is the cost. A standard pill counting tray costs about $20 while a simple laser counter or weight counter costs roughly $1,500 and often more, and more advanced high tech machines can cost upwards of $250,000. Because of the cost and other problems noted, the preferred solution is human counting. It delivers accuracy, safety, and does not require moderate to high expenditures on machinery, service contracts, and scheduled maintenance. There is a need, therefore, for a method of counting pills that incorporates the benefits of human pill counting with the advantages of machine counting.